Story setting: The Divine Realm collapses, and the divine race moves to another realm. The Demon Realm falls, and its people scatter. Humans, gods, and demons enter an era of coexistence. To prevent the gods and demons from encroaching on the human world, the Xiao Empire reactivates the Twelve Gates of the Inspectorate.
Part One: Blossoms Fill the City of Jin
Under the orders of Xiao Linghan, head of the Twelve Gates of the Inspectorate, Lin Zhengchun, a junior officer, enters Shu Province to investigate a case involving the mystic sects. She unexpectedly encounters Shi Ermei, whose spiritual core is sealed and whose fate is bizarre.
In the middle of the night, Lin Zhengchun climbed over the wall of Shi Ermei's home. By dawn, Lin Zhengchun had torn down the wall of Shi Ermei's home...
Before meeting Lin Zhengchun, Shi Ermei had spent twenty years confined by towering walls on all sides. When they first met, each one shook the other's understanding of themselves. What attracts us is often what we lack. Young Master Mei became convinced that Miss Lin was the destined benefactor who could guarantee him a normal life. He was even willing to become her underling just to get close to her...
Part Two: Land of Godslaying
Zeer (Lin Dang) leaves the Xipa Highlands and enters Shu Province to find his younger sister, Lin Zhengchun. He unexpectedly discovers that the gods are manipulating humans and demons in an attempt to restore the ancient ecosystem and the Muya Secret Realm. After arriving in Shu, he helps Xiao Linghan handle the province's administrative affairs. The four of them eventually uncover the secret of an ancient deity using the spiritual ley lines to resurrect itself, and expose the gods' plot to exploit the chaos in time and space to annex Shu Province and invade the empire. Behind it all lies a life-and-death conflict between gods and shamans that has lasted for ten thousand years...
Part Three: Rebooting the North Abyss
The rough outline: Kundu changes hands, Shu Province falls, the realm teeters on the brink, and its people suffer.
The Mystic Heaven: All things return to their source. The remnants of the ancient bloodlines return to the North Abyss. Planet Earth corrects its shifting magnetic poles and completes its self-repair. Earth's civilization enters the era of human history. The Little Ice Age ends, the snow line moves north, and the frozen wastelands come back to life. Just as the souls in purgatory must merge with one another to grow stronger and be reborn, humanity faces its most profound confrontation and integration between north and south.
Only after thousands of sails have passed do we understand our true hearts. I grant you a plum blossom; in the cold, it strives for spring. May the land be safe and the years peaceful. May lovers find their rightful places.
Alternate titles for this story:
Shi Ermei: After the Ancient Gods Resurrected, I Made a Living with My Craft
Xiao Linghan: When I Failed to Win My Rival's Wife, I Had No Choice but to Keep Busy
Lin Zhengchun: On the Diversity of Relationships Between Men and Women... What, you call that being a flirt? Being attracted to admirable qualities is a human trait. What... a total flirt? I just want everyone to get along. What? The worst flirt of all? ...Get lost, all of you. Don't get in the way of my career!
Zeer: Is My Life a Tragedy or a Comedy? It All Depends on Your Perspective
Emperor Xiao: My Name Is Feng Runu. I'm Not Emperor Xiao, But I Want to Eliminate the Xiao Empire.
Feng Feishuang: Feng Is Both My Surname and My State of Mind
Lin Qingyang: I Heard the Author Plans to Give Me My Own Story. Am I Miserable or What?
Lu Qing: I'll Paint a Green-and-Blue Landscape with My Soul. Even if my body and soul perish, I'll make a dazzling final impression.
(I'm just being unhinged. The actual story is what counts.)
An ensemble cast story. The blurb only covers the first few characters to appear. The setting borrows from the Northern Song Dynasty, drawing loosely on its economic and military policies for governing Shu.
They tread over the dry bones of their countrymen and keep moving forward, never turning back out of fear. Lying low is not surrender. It is the silence before transformation.
Wuya to Zehuan:
The divine has no fixed form, hidden and unseen. It is heaven and earth, and it benefits all living things.
There is no distinction among living beings. The moment you sacrificed yourself to heaven and earth, I saw the divine.
He said you weren't worth the sacrifice, that everything in the world has its cause and effect, and that you didn't need to give yourself up to save all living things.
You said that all living things have no fixed form. I am all living things, and all living things are me. To save them is to save myself.
I thought the abyss was the end of the marsh. But the divine is infinite, with neither beginning nor end.
Karma ends, but the cycle of rebirth has no end.
It turns out I am not your destination, but the cause that sends you into the cycle of rebirth.
Special note: The dialogue and internal thoughts of the characters serve entirely to express their personalities and perspectives. They do not represent the author's views, nor do they indicate right or wrong. The author only depicts, not judges. If anything makes you uncomfortable, please consider it critically.
Theme: Family, friendship, and love make a life whole
